広島工業大学紀要研究編
第 44 巻（2010）pp.369-382
論
文
Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
Donald FOWLER *
(Received Oct. 30, 2009)
Abstract
During the course of the seventeenth century, kabuki was accommodated within the concurrently developing Tokugawa order. Starting as deviant, subversive, bawdy entertainment in
the aftermath of the wars of unification, by the end of the century kabuki was effectively an established form of theatre undergoing formalization of its every aspect, with the important proviso that it was deemed fit only for commoners. This paper traces the ideological, historical and
aesthetic pressures that came to bear on the development of this now iconic form of Japanese
culture. A four-fold schema is proposed: public order concerns; policing the boundaries of the
Tokugawa social order; maintaining samurai identity and pre-eminence; and long-standing
samurai – merchant political contestation.
Key Words: Kabuki, control, seventeenth century, Tokugawa
more violent and subversive than punk even
Introduction
threatened to be. When the battle of Sekigahara
At the beginning of the seventeenth century great
secured the hegemony of Tokugawa Ieyasu in
interest was aroused in Kyoto in a subversive new
1600, peace finally settled on the country after
dance-based performance that came to be known
over a century of strife. A carnival eruption of “lust
as kabuki. In strong contrast to noˉ, the stately,
for life and extravagance” took place. Kabuki-
refined drama patronised by upper samurai since
mono with strange hairstyles roamed the streets
its establishment as an elite art form two centu-
wearing outlandish clothes and carrying exagger-
ries earlier, kabuki was rough, bawdy, and multi-
ated accoutrements such as absurdly long tobacco
farious in its elements. When the Tokugawa au-
pipes (Ortolani 1990,153-4). It is in this immedi-
thorities issued edicts on performance arts, they
ate context that kabuki the performance art
deemed the smoothly-integrated, high aesthetics
emerged.
of noˉ appropriate viewing for the ruling samurai,
and banned attendance at kabuki, which was
At the time the slang word kabuku, meaning ‘to
thought to be low entertainment, fit only for com-
slant’, referred to a range of non-conformist activi-
moners.
ties ranging from unconventional appearance to
political subversion. Many of the kabuki-mono were
In the first two decades of the seventeenth century
dispossessed samurai, known as roˉnin, masterless
kabuki was less an art form than an attitude; as-
and homeless after the recent wars of unification.
sociated with the so-called kabuki-mono, kabuki
They flocked to the cities, particularly Kyoto, some
was part of a wider cultural movement that has
looking for entertainment and employment, some
been compared by serious scholars to the punk
intent on political agitation against the newly pow-
movement in Britain in the 1970s, though it was
erful Tokugawa1. In 1603 the governor of Kyoto in-
＊＊＊
Department of Environmental Design, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Hiroshima Institute of Technology
― 369 ―
Donald FOWLER
troduced as a countermeasure a law that “divided
which kabuki formed an integral part. Samurai –
all citizens into groups of ten and made all ten re-
townsmen contestation was further complicated
sponsible for any crime committed by any member
by the imperative of quarantining outcasts in their
of that group” (Ortolani 1990,157). In the same
new urban context.
year, skits and dances performed on the dry riverbed of Kyoto’s Kamo River by the legendary found-
The purpose of this paper is to explicate the pro-
er of kabuki and self-styled shrine maiden, Okuni,
cess whereby the new art form kabuki became ac-
attracted the appellation ‘kabuki’ due to their ris-
commodated in the emerging Tokugawa order.
qué and subversive content. In the face of repres-
This should not be viewed simply as a successful
sive government policies, theatricality was possibly
neutering of fertile folk culture on the part of the
the only safe mode of dissent.
bakufu. The extravagant show of force by the third
Tokugawa shogun when, in 1632, he marched an
In addition to roˉnin, Okuni’s kabuki attracted the
army of 307,000 through the old capital, Kyoto,
attention of merchants, who were subject to the
should not lead us to assume that the bakufu
indignity of being placed lowest on the hierarchy
could behave with impunity in all fields. Cultural
of classes (the shinoˉkoˉshoˉ system: samurai shi;
contestation is a more subtle business. To some
peasant farmers noˉ; artisans koˉ; and merchants
extent, at least, power was distributed between
shoˉ). During the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, sam-
different constituencies of Tokugawa society. In
urai had been encouraged to move from villages to
addition to the military and administrative power
towns; under the Tokugawa this movement was
of the Tokugawa, there was the economic power of
enforced. Peasants were to live in the villages to
the merchants2 and the symbolic power of margin-
farm the land, and the other classes were to live in
al groups3.
towns and cities. Previously itinerant outcast performers also settled in the cities. Kabuki actors,
In his book, Representations of Power, Michele
while remaining outcasts, attracted the patronage
Marra called for further research “on the neutral-
and adoration of the choˉnin, presenting a potent
ising forces of Tokugawa cultural institutions” and
cultural challenge to the nascent Tokugawa order.
“further clarification of the cultural politics of the
Tokugawa government” (1993,172). Interesting
In the urban context, with which we are con-
evidence of this exists in the form of edicts direct-
cerned, the most important social division was
ed at kabuki, and it is the import of these prohibi-
that between samurai, on the one hand, and arti-
tions and stipulations that we will seek to clarify,
sans and merchants, collectively known as choˉnin
though care must be taken not to over-emphasize
(townsmen), on the other. The authorities sought
official intervention. Considering kabuki’s origins,
to distinguish samurai from choˉnin, one direct
the question that requires answering is why the
method being frequently issued sumptuary regula-
bakufu chose to accommodate kabuki rather than
tions, another the containment of choˉnin culture.
ban it outright as they did satirical kyoˉgen and as
In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, wealthy
bakufu of previous centuries had done with other
townsmen, known as machishuˉ, had created an
troublesome merchant-backed cultural forms. Un-
urban culture centred around satirical kyoˉgen and
like the Ashikaga bakufu, for example, which
ostentatious annual festivals such as that held at
banned many machishuˉ gatherings, the Tokugawa
Gion in Kyoto. Just as the Ashikaga shoguns had
bakufu pursued successive strategies of toleration,
been concerned to contain the development of a
containment, and then more active intervention,
distinctive machishuˉ cultural identity, the Toku-
culminating in the institutionalisation of kabuki
gawa government was faced with the problem of
by the end of the century4.
dealing with a potentially disruptive focal point of
choˉnin identity, that of the pleasure quarters, of
Comparing the regularised glories of Genroku ka-
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Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
buki at century’s end to its bawdy beginnings, it is
thrilling subject matter (Ortolani 1990,158). An
clear that kabuki was accommodated (and, indeed,
early kabuki song7 is markedly anti-Buddhist in
accommodated itself) within the Tokugawa order
tone, exhorting viewers to hedonism in the face of
as it developed over the course of the seventeenth
ephemeral existence, eschewing asceticism and
century. The story of that transformation is closely
praising human love above the dictates of authori-
related to the theme of this paper but requires sep-
ty, religious and temporal:
arate treatment. What is sought in this paper are
the rationales of control for the exciting and seem-
Be in a frenzy
ingly anarchic dance-based performance art which
In this dream-like floating world.
emerged amid the chaos of the wars of unification.
Even the thunder
That rumbles and rumbles
Ikegami asserts: “The consolidation of the Toku-
Cannot put you and me
gawa state and the rise of the kabuki theatre can
Asunder.
be regarded as twin progeny of the preceding civil
war period” (1997,156). Policies fundamental to
It may be significant that despite evidence of ori-
the Tokugawa order were initially implemented in
gins in the Kansai area, Okuni claimed affiliation
the context of late sixteenth century military, ide-
with Izumo taisha8, thereby giving herself an extra
ological, and symbolic conflict. This indicates the
frisson of contrariety amidst the constraints of the
necessity of seeking rationales of control in the
times, at the same time gaining nominally official
preceding decades. Before turning to that task,
status as a putative shamaness. Travel restric-
however, sketches of early and late seventeenth
tions of the day meant that it would have been dif-
century kabuki will serve to illustrate the trans-
ficult for Okuni and her troupe to move around
formation of kabuki across the course of the seven-
without documents testifying to such affiliation
teenth century that is part of the subject of our
(genuine or not). Was it the case that Okuni ad-
enquiry.
opted the pose of a religious mendicant9 until a
more acceptable role presented itself in the form of
Early Kabuki
urban patronage?
Pictures and screens of early kabuki give an idea
of what kind of spectacle it was. Depictions of
In its new urban environment, Okuni’s innovative
Okuni show her on a stage set up on the Kamo
performance style was quickly adopted by bordel-
riverbed, dressed in masculine fashion, leaning ca-
los10, where the name of the game was eclecticism.
sually on a long sword, with a short sword set in
Bordellos were in the business of attracting cus-
her obi . Around her neck are slung a gold neck-
tomers and to do so courtesan/prostitutes per-
lace and a Portuguese crucifix, and from her right
formed kabuki, sarugaku, nenbutsu odori, and
hip hang gourds, inroˉ, a tobacco pouch, and other
even noˉ11, in cavalier disregard of the stipulations
containers. Sometimes she wears Portuguese
of categorising aestheticians/ideologues. Religious
pants and a foreign hat, an odd and challenging
institutions made way for the pleasure districts,
get-up, especially for a woman. According to writ-
bordellos stepped in to provide patronage, itiner-
ten sources , she performed dances and skits, mix-
ant performers sought settled accommodation in
ing religious nenbutsu-odori with profane popular
the theatre districts, and religious ritual moved
dances, indulging in sexual innuendo, and invok-
even further in the direction of entertainment.
5
6
ing the spirit of the famed roˉnin, Nagoya Sanza,
according to “an unproven but persistent
Genroku Kabuki
tradition....the lover and main collaborator” of
From such humble beginnings, by the end of the
Okuni, but more likely a notorious kabuki-mono
seventeenth century the glories of Genroku Kabuki
whose daring exploits provided early kabuki with
had developed. Kabuki was performed in officially
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Donald FOWLER
licensed theatres in the three main cities; plays
The guiding principle of Tokugawa policy-makers
had characteristic and easily recognised structures
was pragmatism. Confucianism certainly provided
which tended to affirm official ideology even within
ideological support for socio-political policies such
a plebeian context; interaction with the audience
as shinoˉkoˉshoˉ but, as we shall see later, shinoˉkoˉshoˉ
had been formalised; actors were bound in a strict
itself was instituted in the context of a political
in-house hierarchy; female roles were played by
struggle between samurai and merchant going
men in increasingly codified fashion; famous actors
back to the fourteenth century. Decision-making
endorsed products and were themselves objects of
before and after 1600 took place against the back-
desire and veneration in a nascent consumer soci-
drop of a complex and shifting national scene.
ety; a trade in woodblock prints of actors flourished
Ooms correctly portrays the three unifiers of Ja-
in symbiosis with kabuki as an integral component
pan as opportunists, and it need scarcely be point-
of urban Tokugawa life.
ed out that opportunists are invariably pragmatists. At the same time, Ooms dates “the first
Having provided brief sketches of early and late
stirrings of a discourse that took some one hun-
seventeenth century kabuki, we can turn attention
dred years....to mature” to around 1570 (Ooms
to the social, political and ideological dynamics
1984,38). How is it that such a discourse came into
that account for the way kabuki became accommo-
being in the face of pragmatic leadership and the
dated within the Tokugawa order. Starting from
absence of an official ideology?
the perspective of the bakufu, we consider on what
grounds policy towards kabuki was formulated.
Utilising a conception of hegemony derived from
Gramsci, one can avoid ascriptions of “aims and
Ruling Ideology either side of 1600
motivations of alleged main actors” in the creation
It might be taken for granted that elucidation of
of ideology (ibid.,36). Establishment of an ideology
rationales of control rests on explication of under-
“is not an event but a....never-ending process of
lying ideology, and such an approach would have
regularisation and situational adjustment in a cli-
been mandatory when the received scholarly view
mate of indeterminacy” (ibid.). This process of reg-
was that the Tokugawa order rested on the foun-
ularisation and situational adjustment took the
dation of a coherent body of neo-Confucian
form of “minute and precise status stipulations”,
thought. However, Herman Ooms, among others,
an issue directly addressed in the Kiyomizu mo-
has questioned the existence of a neo-Confucian
nogatari12 (Ooms 1985, 155). It is in this sense that
orthodoxy in the Tokugawa period, certainly in
specific edicts directed against kabuki have a rele-
the seventeenth century. Contrary to the asser-
vance far beyond the theatrical world itself. Con-
tions of an anterior generation of historians, there
sidered against a broader array of political, social,
was no official ideology, let alone an “epochal deci-
and religious controls, the accommodation of ka-
sion by Tokugawa Ieyasu to shift the spiritual au-
buki elucidates the ongoing (and to some extent
thority from Buddhism to....neo-Confucianism”
non-conscious) construction of samurai identity,
(quoted in Ooms 1984,31). The closest we have to
particularly in opposition to merchant culture.
an official statement of ideology is the Ieyasu testament, produced under Iemitsu for enshrinement
Legitimising Samurai Rule
in the Nikkoˉ mausoleum. This document “indis-
Samurai had ample opportunity to pursue their
criminately uses Confucian, Shintoˉ, and Buddhist
vocation during the wars of the fifteenth and six-
terminology....with the sole purpose of sanctifying
teenth centuries. Samurai identity was defined on
the political order” (Ooms 1985,66). Clear elucida-
the battlefield. Yet with national unification and
tion of rationales of control with reference to a sin-
the cessation of conflict samurai had to re-invent
gle, coherent ideology (or even tradition of
themselves as virtuous exemplars with a mandate
thought) is simply not possible.
to rule. The significance of samurai strategies of
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Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
administrative legitimacy for our theme is the in-
1985,89). Furthermore, Iemitsu effectively bal-
fluence of antagonistic relationships between the
anced the grounds of legitimacy of his own title of
samurai and other sectors of Japanese society on
shogun by subjecting the imperial institution to a
social policy and what light that sheds on samurai
number of coercive indignities, including annual
- merchant contestation.
observances at Nikkoˉ, thus making it plain where
true power lay.
Nobunaga, upon his rise to prominence, employed
two concepts of legitimisation, both of which were
The legitimising strategies of the three unifiers,
consonant with Confucianism: “koˉgi, the public
and successive Tokugawa shoguns, ‘naturally’
good, and tenka, the realm” (Ooms 1985,26). How-
placed merchants in a position of subservience.
ever, the efficacy of these legitimising strategies
This was no accident: to a large extent such op-
came under strain with Nobunaga’s confrontation
pression was directed at the economic, political,
with the Ikkoˉ-ikki, a sect of warlords and associat-
ideological and religious challenge mounted by the
ed peasant proprietors whose threat lay in the fact
merchant class13. Shinoˉkoˉshoˉ was polemical, for all
that they had a “full-fledged world view that
its Confucian justifications. It constituted a ratio-
legitimised....the stance they took against the new
nale of control of the bulk of society. Admittedly,
daimyo power” (ibid.,31). The confrontation be-
the Confucian emphasis on the importance of pro-
tween these two loci of sixteenth century power is
duction justified ideologically the superior social
significant because many innovations that later
status of farmers over merchants, but the increas-
became part of the Tokugawa order (such as a dis-
ing power of the merchant class had been of great
armed peasantry, land surveys, and tying peas-
concern to the ruling elite for a long time and in
ants to the land) “took shape as anti-ikki policies”
this case the language of Confucianism fit the
(ibid.,30-1). Ikkoˉ-ikki discourse was a threat to No-
pragmatic aims of the authorities.
bunaga because followers recognised no intermediaries between themselves and the emperor. A
The kiyomizu monogatari identifies three ideological
comparable threat was posed by the Hokke sect,
threats in seventeenth century Japan: “the Chris-
which since the fifteenth century had been gener-
tians, the Ikkoˉ believers, and the Nichiren followers”
ously patronised by Kyoto merchants in an at-
(Ooms 1985,155). The samurai were a warrior class.
tempt to “constitute themselves as an autonomous
If a military solution was available, it would be pur-
centre of power whose ideological legitimation
sued. Christians could be and were suppressed by
they found in the epistemology of Nichiren’s fol-
violent means, as the Ikkoˉ-ikki had been several de-
lowers” (Ooms 1985,37; Marra 1993,137).
cades earlier. But merchants in the cities had to be
contained with less martial methods.
Nobunaga’s response to this double-barrelled ideological challenge was to create a Shintoˉ-inspired
In a time of peace, samurai ethics and identity had
cult with himself as its presiding deity. By so do-
to be recast, or, at the very least, maintained in a
ing, Nobunaga claimed power without reference to
different way. Japan was changing from a medi-
the imperial and shogunal institutions. This was a
eval to a pre-modern society. Emblematic of this
strategy of legitimisation befitting the expedien-
was the punctilious attention the Tokugawa baku-
cies of military rule, and as such also appealed to
fu came to pay to what different social groups were
Hideyoshi. Ieyasu, however, saw fit to accept the
permitted to wear. A sudden switch from matters
title of shogun, thereby nominally deriving legiti-
martial to those sartorial may appear abrupt and
macy from the imperial house. A parallel Tokuga-
arbitrary, but is indicative of the epochal shift from
wa strategy of legitimisation was rule under the
Hideyoshi to Ieyasu, from a period of incessant
concept of tendoˉ (the “Way of Heaven”) as stated
conflict to the enforced political and social stability
in the Ieyasu testament housed at Nikkoˉ (Ooms
of the Tokugawa Era. Attire was one means by
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Donald FOWLER
which the Tokugawa bakufu protected the preroga-
called forth a steady stream of repetitive edicts
tives of the samurai as a dominant class.
from the bakufu, which simultaneously bemoaned
the disobedience of their target group. Moreover,
The social order & attire
the enduring political importance of kabuki-mono
Tokugawa Japan was a closed society, greatly con-
(Ikegami 1989,131) ensured that the policing of
cerned with the balance of its multifarious parts.
fashion remained a priority, the bakufu evidently
Great energy was expended in ordering the most
taking the view that “body images ‘speak’ social
minute elements of the different social groups,
relations and values with particular force” (Stally-
with the aim of maintaining stability. Regulations
brass & White 1986,10).
directed at kabuki extended to the type of hat actors were required to wear when on the move, and
Without labouring the point, we have established
which public toilets female impersonators were
that pragmatism was the name of the game for
entitled to use. In such ways the authorities po-
the Tokugawa bakufu. Rather than policy being
liced the body. Marks of the samurai were the
consistently based on a solid and unchanging ide-
kamishimo (starched shoulders), hakama (trou-
ology, edicts were introduced ad hoc. A cynical
sers), and long and short swords, the overall effect
view would be that samurai ideology, in the final
being one of vigorous agency. Forbidden to wear
analysis, came down to an assertion of samurai
hakama, and restricted to a specified cut of kimo-
superiority14, and a consequent search for means
no, merchants expressed their wealth through the
by which such superiority was to be buttressed.
quality of material, and became subject to a bar-
Predicating pragmatism, then, we should turn to a
rage of sumptuary regulations designed “to regu-
historical approach, seeking precedents for cultur-
late the marginal population of the samurai class
al contestation in Ashikaga and Momoyama times.
by drawing a clear line between samurai and commoners” (Ikegami 1989,128).
Cultural Contestation in Preceding Centuries
The significance of such policing of the body and
Cultural contestation in the medieval period took
its accoutrements can be approached in various
place against the backdrop of a power struggle be-
ways. Fisher and Cleveland assert that “the whole
tween the militarily strong samurai and the eco-
concept of body-image boundaries has implicit in
nomically strong merchants. Political legitimacy
it the idea of the structuring of one’s relations
rested on virtue (koˉgi). One manifestation of such
with others” (Stallybrass & White 1986,10). Ac-
virtue was cultivation. Aspirations to legitimacy of
cording to Bourdieu, the reason societies control
Ashikaga shoguns and the samurai warrior class
“[seemingly] insignificant details of dress, bearing,
as a whole required the (appropriation and) utili-
physical and verbal manners” is to encourage em-
sation of extant forms of culture (often with the
bodiment in subjects of the governing principles of
aid of ambitious commoners) and the protection of
the society (ibid.,88). The rationale behind bakufu
cultural prerogatives from the challenge of the
edicts on class specific dress can be found in such
wealthy merchant class. Given the difficulty of di-
twentieth century scholarship. This scholarship
rect political challenge in a political order that
also explains why fashion became such a locus of
rested on military power, forms of culture played
contention during Tokugawa times (Ikegami
an important role in the struggle between samurai
1989,116). Although, in terms of cut, urban fash-
and machishuˉ. We shall briefly consider three ar-
ion was largely unchanging, the entertainment
eas: sarugaku and its offshoots, noˉ and tesaru-
districts centred on kabuki and the brothel engen-
gaku; public dancing; and chanoyu.
dered whatever invention was possible. Wealthy
merchants, denied participation in politics, mani-
The first shoguns made use of commoners to gain
fested mute resistance in the form of fashion, and
credibility as cultivated rulers. Zeami’s “transfor-
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Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
mation of a popular/ religious/ magical/ pragmatic/
already come to rely on “independent corps of po-
temple-oriented art form known as sarugaku into
lice”, funded by merchants, to suppress peasant
an elitist/ entertaining/ representational/ military-
unrest (Marra 1993,136). The machishuˉ, then,
oriented artistic practice” involved deliberate “ob-
posed a considerable threat, armed as they were
fuscating of the popular origins of noˉ ” (Marra
with great wealth, religious and cultural under-
1993,56 & 55). In turn the popular antecedents of
pinnings, and even their own quasi-military forc-
noˉ were patronised by machishuˉ in the form of
es. It is this that accounts for the 1506 order that
tesarugaku, which subsequently became subject to
“forbade the performance of dances inside the city
shogunal suppression. “The parodying nature of
for fear that political criticism would arise from
tesarugaku, combined with the energy of a bloom-
the gathering of the machishuˉ” (ibid.,137).
ing urban society, made it a perfect candidate for
an act of silencing and erasure” (ibid.,138). It was
Chanoyu (known in English as the ‘tea ceremony’)
not tesarugaku per se that concerned the authori-
was exploited by powerful sixteenth century
ties but “the creation of a cultural identity by
daimyo for its cultural cachet. This trend reached
[machishuˉ] who were distinguishing themselves
its apogee under the unifying warlords Nobunaga
as a growing and threatening political competitor”
and Hideyoshi. However, patronage of chanoyu
(ibid.).
was not simply to demonstrate koˉgi. In fact Bodart-Bailey goes so far as to assert that these two
Public dancing in the capital constituted another
warlords could not have come to prominence with-
important locus of contention. Amidst the chaos of
out the close relationships they forged with the
the warring period the intent behind gatherings
merchant tea masters of Sakai and Kyoto
on the streets was not easily interpreted. Berry
(1985,31). As well as cultural capital, chanoyu af-
asserts that the “residents of Kyoto....saw political
forded contact with wealthy merchants who sup-
theatre in the conduct of popular mobilisations”
plied Nobunaga, for example, with musket balls
(1994,253). There might be “circular processions of
and other provisions necessary to quelling domes-
Hokke sectarians”, fuˉryuˉ dancing, or possibly an
tic dissent. Tea masters, moreover, were able to
assembly of machishuˉ in a show of strength. Since
act as political intermediaries due to their freedom
fuˉryuˉ dancing is one of the ascribed roots of kabu-
of movement. Here, ideological strategies of legiti-
ki, it is interesting that contemporary diarists de-
misation, cultural appropriation, machishuˉ - sam-
scribe the ‘havoc’ associated with public dancing
urai contention and, indeed, co-operation, and
with its “flute and percussion accompaniment.”
hard-headed pragmatism came together. Tea mas-
Moreover, it was associated with “nenbutsu odori -
ters were merchants, officially at the bottom of the
ecstatic dancing invoking the Buddha Amida,” an-
social hierarchy, but through chanoyu and judi-
other supposed root of kabuki (ibid.,248).
cious attraction of patronage, negotiated a way
into the corridors of power.
In the absence of official channels for political energies, the machishuˉ exploited public gatherings
Dealing with Kabuki
to display their power; the Gion festival being an
Considering that the Tokugawa bakufu came
extravagant example. Moreover, wealthy and in-
down so hard on kabuki-mono, executing and ban-
fluential merchant families patronised the
ishing “a large number of the dangerous rebels” in
Nichiren religious heritage in the form of the
the opening decades of Tokugawa rule, why was it
Hokke sect, which, as we have seen, was antitheti-
that kabuki escaped prohibition? After all, kyoˉgen,
cal to samurai strategies of legitimisation. As Ber-
long patronised by merchants, was banned. Part
ry says, “fuˉryuˉ deeply resembled the politics of
of the answer lies in the hoary old nugget of wis-
demonstration” and posed a challenge to an “inad-
dom that popular energies cannot be quashed, and
equate police force” (ibid.,254). The shogunate had
a people provided with ‘bread and circuses’ is a
― 375 ―
Donald FOWLER
people more amenable to control. Direct evidence
The actor playing the merchant hero may win out
for this proposition comes from a guide for bakufu
over the samurai, but only because he is more
policy known as Ieyasu’s legacy:
closely adhering to samurai morality. By predicating performances on the moral structure of the
[C]ourtesans, dancers, catamites, streetwalk-
ruling class, kabuki was consonant with Gluck-
ers and the like always come to the cities and
mann’s famous assertion that “while rites of rever-
prospering places of the country. Although the
sal obviously include a protest against the estab-
conduct of many is corrupted by them, if they
lished order ….. they are intended to preserve and
are rigorously suppressed, serious crimes will
strengthen the established order” (S&W 13; my
occur daily …(quoted in Leiter 2002,41)
italics). Such intention can be attributed to both
bakufu in its rationale of toleration and the mer-
The more overtly political, and long-established,
chants and outcasts of the established theatre it-
kyoˉgen was chosen for suppression over the more
self, themselves having a considerable stake in the
allusively subversive kabuki. Kabuki, despite its
establishment, at least by Genroku times15.
novelty, was, in its origins, an overflowing of folk
culture, a topsy-turvy world where gender, status,
In the first century of the Tokugawa period the
hierarchy, and mores were ebulliently subverted
city of Edo, effective if not official capital, vastly
and erased, and as such would be instantly recog-
expanded its population. Edo needed to attract
nisable to scholars of European carnival. Policing
merchants and artisans in considerable numbers.
kabuki simply was not a priority in the early days.
Without thriving pleasure quarters this would
have been practically impossible. Tokugawa offi-
As for kabuki-mono, many were veterans of the
cials took the view that ‘low’ entertainment was fit
recent wars of unification and the Hideyoshi-led
for the low social classes. However, there were two
invasion of Korea. Tens of thousands of dispos-
problems with this policy: it was not only choˉnin
sessed samurai (roˉnin) flocked to the cities. We
who came to dwell in the great new city, outcasts
may speculate that pragmatism dictated that it
and samurai came as well.
was preferable that unsettled elements spent their
energies in dissipation rather than political agita-
For centuries, itinerant performers, feared and po-
tion, motivated by grievances against the new re-
tentially polluting outcast outsiders acting as me-
gime that many inevitably nurtured. As well as
diators to the divine realm, came into the villages
merchants, samurai and roˉnin were attracted to
to perform rites of renewal and revitalisation in
the seamy world of gambling, prostitution and en-
accordance with a divine calendar. Kabuki per-
tertainment of which kabuki was an integral part.
formers were of this ilk, part of a ritual purity sys-
Admittedly, there was soon a veritable flood of
tem, frequently associated with Shintoˉ, with ori-
edicts aimed at containing the popularity of kabu-
gins in Japan’s ancient past. The accommodation
ki and the trouble it attracted and caused, but in
of kabuki in its new urban surroundings saw a re-
the early days, and arguably throughout its Toku-
versal of motion. Outcasts were confined and quar-
gawa existence, kabuki was tolerated as a neces-
antined. No longer did outcasts come into the vil-
sary evil, one of the two wheels of the chariot of
lage/urban area and leave after rituals/
pleasure, the other being prostitution.
performances were complete. Now the non-outcast
audience entered the outcast enclave. The psychol-
A more subtle argument for tolerance, one that
ogy of invaded and invader was reversed.
gains credence from a more extensive analysis of
Genroku era kabuki than the brief sketch in this
The process of settlement of itinerant performers
paper, is that kabuki was not so much subversive
in theatres under the aegis of the Tokugawa is one
as containing a mere frisson of subversiveness.
of the crucial elements of control16 exercised by the
― 376 ―
Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
authorities in our period of interest. Though Toku-
the alternative ‘culture’ of the pleasure quarters
gawa officials desisted from an outright ban of ka-
gave birth to a language known as kuruwa kotoba,
buki , their attitude certainly could not be de-
which facilitated communication stripped of the
scribed as laissez-faire. Outcasts generally lost
demands of social hierarchy. Even present-day
their prior freedom and “their place in society [be-
Japanese have to consider carefully the status of
came] rigidly fixed by laws of domicile, dress, and
the person they are addressing and adjust their
occupation”(Law 1997,69). The import of this was
vocabulary accordingly, a custom that significantly
fresh housing for the chosen few outcasts and in-
inhibits communication between different genera-
creased marginalisation for the rest, since a con-
tions and between people of different status. In
comitant development was the increased suspicion
Tokugawa times samurai were forbidden contact
and enmity afforded itinerant performers, their
with merchants, let alone outcasts, yet in the
role as mediators having been usurped by official
pleasure quarters chatted, joked and flirted on a
forms of entertainment . In other words, the ritual
level of linguistic equality.
17
18
purity system of the medieval period was recast in
pre-modern Japan; transformed almost beyond rec-
It was this challenge to the social boundaries so
ognition in the form of urban kabuki, and shifted
meticulously put in place by the ruling authorities
further from even a symbolic centre in the village.
that accounts for the cascade of apparently trivial
edicts directed at kabuki throughout the seven-
The majority of the hundreds of samurai who
teenth century and beyond, as we shall see in the
came to live in Edo were deprived of the society of
next section. Public order was unquestionably a
their wives and children who remained in their
concern, but was more frequently the pretext for
home domains. Constrained by official mores of
the implementation of policies conceived in a dif-
sobriety and frugality, and the more direct expedi-
ferent spirit.
ent of official edicts banning attendance at the
pleasure districts, samurai themselves became
Intervention
susceptible to dissatisfaction with their station.
The concern here is not to enumerate the innu-
Nominal high status was little compensation for
merable interventions in kabuki made by the ba-
what could be a barren existence in the capital. It
kufu, which went so far as to stipulate, as men-
is easy to appreciate the pull on the imagination
tioned above, exactly what kind of hat actors had
that kabuki and its attendant pleasures could ex-
to wear outside the theatre districts, but to seek
ert. Samurai gave in to their desires and in poi-
rationales behind both minor and major interdic-
gnantly symbolic fashion exchanged their
tions. The sheer number of edicts directed at ka-
kamishimo and swords for merchant robes in
buki might seem to contradict the case for bakufu
booths specially set up for this purpose on the
toleration put forward in this paper, but the
“Road of Transformation” that led to the entrance
numbing repetitiveness of the edicts reflects less
of the famed Yoshiwara pleasure quarters in Edo;
the zealousness of control than the laxity of en-
then they could indulge themselves incognito.
forcement and the determination of those in the
world of kabuki to defy the authorities.
Inside the pleasure quarters was a realm where
outcast and merchant were sanctioned to consort.
Though it is true that the authorities paid special
It would be false to claim that there was no hier-
attention to kabuki, this point should not be exag-
archy within the walls of Yoshiwara , but once in-
gerated. Many of the edicts directed at kabuki
side, samurai were effectively free of the normal
were merely specific instances of general prohibi-
prohibitions of their station and, as Shively so fe-
tions aimed at all townsmen and outcasts. A case
licitously expresses it, “could ill afford to insist on
in point is the interdiction against riding in palan-
the prerogatives of their class.” It is striking that
quins or on horseback, which was the prerogative
19
― 377 ―
Donald FOWLER
of samurai (Shively, 48). This was very much true
Imperial consorts into the shade” (Shively
of sumptuary regulations stipulating, among
1968,233). Stallybrass and White assert that,
many other matters, the cut and type of material
“points of antagonism, overlap and intersection
for kimono. Actors and theatre managers for obvi-
between the high and the low....provide some of
ous reasons sought ever more spectacular cos-
the richest and most powerful symbolic dissonanc-
tumes and fought a never-ending battle with
es” in any culture (1986,25). Kabuki in the seven-
Tokugawa officials. Such push and pull, conces-
teenth century was just such a point. Forgetting
sion, disobedience and periodic crackdown, ac-
themselves, those from the samurai elite lost their
counts for the minute detail of many kabuki regu-
heads in worship and desire of lowly outcasts, an
lations. It is also important not to ignore mundane
attitude entirely antithetical to the Tokugawa re-
matters of public safety when seeking rationales
quirement of samurai self-restraint and physical
of regulations. Banning night performances of ka-
and moral separation from the lower classes. Pro-
buki on windy nights is easily understood when
tection of samurai morality, thereby samurai iden-
one considers the method of illumination and the
tity and, implicitly, their fitness to rule, was part
frequency of fires, known as the flowers of Edo,
of a wider concern to police the social boundaries
that ravaged the city. Having stated these caveats
whereby Confucian morality was reified in the es-
we should turn to two major interdictions the ba-
tablished Tokugawa order. Indeed, that is the im-
kufu made against kabuki: the 1629 ban against
port of the intent to separate the professions of ac-
onna kabuki and the 1652 banning of wakashuˉ
tor and prostitute. It was a question of order.
(youth) kabuki.
From the point of view of the authorities, however,
Some commentators interpret the 1629 ban as a
it was equally important to meet the challenge
means to put an end to public disorder (sometimes
presented by the increasing economic, social, and
involving samurai) connected with kabuki. Others
cultural strength of the choˉnin. It is no coincidence
emphasise the intent to enforce proper separation
that the first decree under the Tokugawa specify-
of the professions, since, in the early days, yuˉjo ka-
ing restrictions on swords for commoners was also
buki and prostitution were barely distinguishable.
issued in 1629 (Ikegami 1989,131). As shinoˉkoˉshoˉ
Ortolani cites the immediate causes of the decree
was a response to the sixteenth century challenge
as prominent daimyo inviting kabuki troupes to
of the machishuˉ, the 1629 ban was part of the con-
their castles, and a riot involving rival samurai at
tinuing power struggle, carried out in the cultural
a kabuki performance in Kyoto (1990,166-7).
arena, between samurai and merchant.
It goes without saying that public order was a ra-
The second important intervention came in 1652
tionale of control; that is obviously a priority for
with the banning of wakashuˉ kabuki, which was
any form of government. But we can infer (though
“intended to separate homosexual prostitution
not entirely at face value as the preceding analysis
from kabuki and to relegate the kabuki theatres
demonstrates) from an examination of the whole
and actors’ residences to one or two quarters of the
gamut of edicts that ‘contamination’ of the ‘high’
city” (Shively 1978,8). Within the confines of the
by the ‘low’ was of great concern to the bakufu.
samurai class, “during the early modern period,
This is how a contemporary writer described the
committed relationships between older men and
scene at an Edo performance of yuˉjo kabuki: “High
younger boys were often considered the purest
and low thronged” to the performance, which was
form of love in the samurai community” (Ikegami
so exciting that “the people in the pit and in the
1997,175). One of the meanings of the verb kabu-
boxes....rocked about forgetting themselves”. The
ku was ‘to bend over’, which has obvious sexual
writer himself was so spellbound, he wrote that
connotations, and kabuki-mono, with their back-
one of the courtesan’s smiles “would throw the six
ground in comradeship in warfare, were strongly
― 378 ―
Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
associated with homosexuality. When they tram-
(Moeran 1989,13). As Yamaguchi Masao confirms,
pled on “convention and decency by performing
“the two worlds of the theatre and the geisha....had
such acts as playing the flute with one’s anus” (Or-
their own form of speech” (1977,173). Kuruwa ko-
tolani 1990:164), they were also cocking a snook at
toba “enabled guests to conceal their various social
those who opposed indiscriminate homosexuality.
statuses, and hostesses their low-class regional ac-
Playing the shakuhachi has long been a euphe-
cents” (Moeran 1989,13). It is easy to imagine that
mism for fellatio. Penetrating the ‘samurai body’
the very act of speaking kuruwa kotoba could free
with a shakuhachi, therefore, had multiple sub-
the mind to range beyond the constraints imposed
versive valences. Exploiting the opportunities of-
by the norms of the Tokugawa order.
fered by the theatre, homosexuality was a realm of
intercourse between men of different status, sub-
In the same century, the respective theatres in
verting the samurai ideal of intra-class committed
England and Japan were subject to a ‘civilising
relationships. A 1648 ban on homosexuality was
process’20. As part of the same dynamic of a bur-
designed to prevent this contact.
geoning bourgeoisie (it must be remembered that
Edo grew into probably the largest city in the
The Political Impotence of Kabuki
world during the eighteenth century), just as the
One of our points of departure was Marra’s chal-
theatre and coffee houses in London ‘cleansed’
lenge to examine the “neutralising forces of Toku-
themselves of the lower habits associated with the
gawa cultural institutions.” This paper has con-
tavern and the burlesque, so kabuki and the shi-
tended that one of the most important dynamics
bai-jaya progressively insisted on increased stan-
the Tokugawa government was concerned to neu-
dards of decorum. So far the comparison holds.
tralise was burgeoning merchant wealth and po-
However, whereas European coffee houses “had a
tential power. If it is true that the “history of po-
habit of metamorphosing into professional or busi-
litical struggle has been the history of the
ness institutions” such as Lloyd’s, the London
attempts made to control significant sites of as-
Stock Exchange and the Royal Society, shibai-jaya
sembly and spaces of discourse” then we need to
conspicuously failed to spawn comparable institu-
address the question: what of political signifi-
tions. Whereas the bourgeois discursive space cen-
cance came of kabuki as a site of assembly (Stally-
tred on the English coffee house gave birth to The
brass & White 1986,80)?
Tatler and The Spectator, which provided an influential forum for discussion of national and inter-
To this end a brief comparison of Edo tea houses,
national issues, kabuki and shibai-jaya publica-
known as shibai-jaya, connected (often literally)
tions, apart from visual representations of actors,
to kabuki theatres, with contemporary London cof-
theatres and performances, consisted merely of
fee houses is instructive. Both were at root bour-
the politically irrelevant hyoˉbanki, which were lit-
geois institutions and aspired to be sites of at least
tle more than programs and guides to kabuki per-
a temporary social equality. Like the European
formances. The political impact of London coffee
coffee house, where “for one penny any man could
houses and the institutions they spawned was not
sit and drink” and need not make way for his so-
matched by the equivalent discursive space in Ja-
cial superiors (Stallybrass & White 1986,96), the
pan. Of course, it is easy to account for this. We
kabuki theatre was in a sense a democratic space.
need look no further than an edict from the 1650s
The existence of a separate discursive space cen-
banning the use of real names in kabuki plays and
tred on the pleasure quarters is most dramatically
related publications. Tokugawa policy remained
and literally demonstrated by the development of
firm on denying choˉnin a political role.
the “kuruwa kotoba used by prostitutes, geisha,
and other entertainers and their customers during
the Edo period,” as has already been mentioned
Conclusion
At the beginning of the seventeenth century there
― 379 ―
Donald FOWLER
was no political will to stamp out the new perfor-
practicality and ideology met. Despite what may
mance art that came to be known as kabuki. A pro-
be described in modern idiom as their superstar-
longed period of national unrest had come to an end
dom, kabuki actors were unable to escape the stig-
in 1600 with the battle of Sekigahara, which en-
ma of their outcast status and were subject to the
sured Tokugawa hegemony. Dispossessed samurai
indignity of intrusive edicts throughout the Toku-
and veterans of the Korean campaigns of the 1590s
gawa period.
flocked to the cities, and indulged in licentious pleasures centred on kabuki. Toleration was the only
Another development that troubled the authori-
realistic option for the authorities. After all, the
ties was the extent to which kabuki and the plea-
Tokugawa government had other priorities, includ-
sure quarters became a focus for choˉnin identity.
ing the final elimination of the military threat
After the very real gekokujoˉ22 of the sixteenth cen-
posed by the Toyotomi clan. It suited the Tokugawa
tury, exemplified by the rise to pre-eminence of
for disgruntled samurai to dissipate their energies
the peasant Hideyoshi, and to which late sixteenth
in worldly entertainment. The merest hint of politi-
and early seventeenth century national policies
cal agitation on the part of kabuki-mono, on the
were partly a response (shinoˉkoˉshoˉ for example),
other hand, was severely dealt with.
the pleasure quarters threatened once more to
turn the world upside down. Merchant identity
The case has been made in this paper for bakufu
centred on kabuki and the pleasure quarters, and
pragmatism, in itself an unremarkable assertion,
backed up by great economic strength, threatened
though one necessitated by the priority that has
to become a politically challenging discursive
tended to be given to ideology as a ground for Toku-
space. Denied any direct political outlet, the ener-
gawa policy. Even pragmatism, though, demands
gies of merchants were disproportionately fun-
its expressive cast. A four-fold schema of rationales
nelled into the cultural arena. The ever-increasing
of control has been presented: public order; policing
economic strength of urban merchants was rightly
the boundaries of the Tokugawa social order; main-
perceived as a threat to samurai rule, resulting in
taining samurai identity and pre-eminence; and
culture being used as a battlefield for power. This
ongoing samurai - merchant contestation.
was the context of the accommodation of kabuki in
the Tokugawa order in the seventeenth century.
Public order is the concern of all governments and,
considering the amount of trouble kabuki attract-
Intervention in kabuki was undertaken to meet
ed, at least in the first half-century of its develop-
the threat of rising merchant power, denying the
ment, it would be foolish to deny its importance in
political potential of the new discursive space cen-
the immediate framing of official policy. The re-
tred on the pleasure quarters, and ensuring that
maining three rationales of control are closely re-
the choˉnin confined their energies to economic af-
lated and interlinked and, indeed, specific to Ja-
fairs and ‘licensed’ cultural activities. Merchants,
pan in the seventeenth century. Samurai identity
with their economic power were a tacit contradic-
depended on distinction from the other social
tion of Tokugawa ideology; a kind of cultural
groups; in the field of culture, noˉ was for samurai,
gekokujoˉ. Some were as rich as the most powerful
and kabuki was for non-samurai. Most represen-
daimyo, and most were better off than a signifi-
tative of Tokugawa pragmatism was shinoˉkoˉshoˉ,
cant number of samurai foot soldiers, with no bat-
upon which the Tokugawa order was predicated,
tles to fight, who, though nominally of high status,
but which, as we have seen, though based on Con-
in fact “hardly had anything more than their pride
fucian principles , arose from the exigencies of
and their swords” (Ortolani 1990,157). The bakufu
Momoyama conflict. Be that as it may, much ener-
recognised that the pleasure quarters, of which
gy was expended by Tokugawa officials in policing
kabuki was an integral part, was a necessary
the social boundaries, a rationale of control where
playground for townsmen. There, money talked,
21
― 380 ―
Seventeenth Century Kabuki: Rationales of Control
wealth could be displayed, and resentments could
Ikegami, Eiko 1995. Taming the Samurai (Harvard University Press).
be palliated. The bakufu successfully confined the
potentially significant threat of rising merchant
Kano, Hiroyuki 1991. Kinsei fuˉzokuga, Vol.4 (Tokyo).
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bawdy, irreverent, and mildly subversive enter-
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and Marginal Reality in Japan’ in R.K,Jain, ed.
Text & Context: the social anthropology of tradi-
cannot be pursued.
10 Yoˉ jo, or young women’s kabuki, was primarily
tion (Philadelphia).
sponsored by brothels. Performers were
indistinguishable from prostitutes.
11 In this connection it is worth noting that “the formal
1 Incidents in 1607 and 1612 resulted in severe
structure and subject matter of noˉ were finally
repression by the authorities; many kabuki-mono
codified [according to the aesthetics of Zeami] during
were executed (Ortolani 1990,155-6)).
the Tokugawa period”(Marra 1993,55).
2 The vitality of Genroku kabuki, at the turn of the
12 A polemical and didactic popular work published six
eighteenth century, testified to “a middle-class
months after the suppression of the 1637 Shimabara
bourgeoisie’s erosion of the shogun’s monopolistic
rebellion.
rights over the field of cultural production” (Marra
13 The Ikkoˉ -Ikki had been dealt with before 1600 & the
Christian threat was ruthlessly suppressed in the
1993,174).
first half of the seventeenth century..
3 Shamanic elements endured in kabuki, even in its
established form. This theme, however, will not be
14 It is noteworthy that the most famous tract praising
the virtue of samurai, the engaging and fascinating
elaborated upon in this paper.
4 As well as the external dynamic of intervention, the
Hagakure, the thoughts of Yamamoto Tsunetomo
internal dynamic of hereditary theatre ownership,
(1659-1719) as recorded by a younger samurai, was
and resultant conservatism, within the rising choˉnin
written in a spirit of nostalgia after a century of
class accounts for the transformation of kabuki by
peace had rendered such purported values an
the turn of the eighteenth century.
anachronism.
5 See, for example, Kano Hiroyuki 1991, Kinsei
15 Intentions, apart from purely venal ones, are rather
more difficult to divine for early kabuki.
fuˉ zokuga, Vol.4, Matsuri to Shibai, Tokyo; Kinsei
16 Japanese scholars have recently argued for
fuˉzoku zufu, vol.10, 1983, Shogakkan.
6 See, for example, Shively 1968.
intentional manipulation of outcast groups by the
7 See Shively 1968,233.
Tokugawa government in order to provide “guards,
8 Izumo taisha had maintained a position of rivalry
executioners, and policemen to suppress peasant
riots” (Law 1997,274 note 40).
with the official centre of Shinto, Ise jingu, since the
17 Although at one stage the appellation ‘kabuki’ itself
rise of the Yamato clan in the seventh century.
became subject to prohibition.
9 And in the process laid claim to an ancient religious
practice in which female priests were believed to
18 Kabuki never entirely shed elements of divine
lend their voices to a deity in order to convey sacred
mediation, retaining them in crystallised form even
messages to the common people (Marra 1993,91).
in the present day.
Connections between religious institutions and
19 In fact courtesans ranged from lowly teppoˉ to the
majestic oiran, with numerous gradations between.
performance went back centuries. In the medieval
period, what might broadly be termed folk culture,
20 See Norbert Elias 1978. The Civilizing Process (New
York).
had been staged by religious institutions. For
example, temples and shrines were the major
21 Other Confucian principles were less amenable: the
sponsors of sarugaku, providing income through
Tokugawa line of shoguns were happy to ignore, for
entertainment while retaining ritual elements.
example, that a mandate to rule depended on the
While on the face of it the slow, sliding movements
virtue of the ruler. The fitness of Tokugawa rule was
of sarugaku dance and its offspring, noˉ , could barely
not subject to debate.
be more dissimilar to the vigorous stamping
22 Gekokujoˉ refers to inferiors overthrowing their
characteristic of kabuki, some scholars cite sarugaku
superiors, particularly prevalent during the warring
as a source of kabuki. Around 1600, the exact nature
period of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
of sarugaku is hard to ascertain and so comparisons
― 382 ―